I caught Leon Hales latest in my feed reader last week and thought he had a lot of good points. After spending a quarter of a century posting columns from the porch of his place in Winedale, Leon Hale has come to some conclusions about the joys of a second home in the country.

Here’s the main one: Your weekend hideout will end up costing you twice as much as you probably thought.

He explains this point this way…

Owning a weekend farm, or whatever you want to call it, is a great deal like starting all over. You’ll likely have another mortgage payment to make. And more insurance. And another set of taxes. (Taxes in the country aren’t super high, but they do the same thing taxes in the city do — they go up.)

I’ve heard weekend landowners say that somehow it didn’t occur to them that when they bought their little place, they would also need to buy everything they already owned in town.

Then he reminds all us men of this terrible fact of married life…

Here’s the gravest risk of them all:

A couple buys 30 acres in the woods, 100 miles from Houston, and the husband loves the place and wants to live out there. But the wife hates it. Can’t stand the loneliness and the insects, and once she saw a snake. That husband has big trouble.

This is the one that worries me about planning a move to the mountains…What happens if my wife isn’t happen once the move is a done deal. It’s not like you get a do over. And moving to the mountains wont be a perpetual vacation.

His most important point is this…

What you need to do, before making a move like this, is realize that you’ll have a good many days when you wish you hadn’t done it.

For his reasons to these points you’ll have to read his column from this past week over at  Owning a country home is no easy chore | Leon Hale | Chron.com – Houston Chronicle.

When you live in the country full time, not just on the weekends, your life moves at a different rhythm. The things you take for granted in town just take longer in the  country. Especially when it involves repairs. Parts are never available when you need them. The parts warehouse is far away in a distant city.

Even finding someone to do work on your place takes more time and effort.

p.s. I have been having a bit of trouble finding my voice these past few weeks…Blame on the dog days of summer…Blame it on procrastination. What ever the cause, I will make a more concerted effort to restart the habit of opening the stream and letting the words flow.